Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Papaver orientale cultivar Papillon.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Papaver plant, botanically known as Papaver orientale, commercially referred to as Oriental Poppy, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Papillon.
The new Papaver is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Rijpwetering, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Papaver cultivars with compact plant habit. The new Papaver originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor of two unidentified selections of Papaver orientale, not patented. The new Papaver was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 2000 in a controlled environment in Rijpwetering, The Netherlands, from the resultant progeny of the cross-pollination on the basis of its compact plant habit.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cuttings taken at Rijpwetering, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Papaver are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Papillon have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Papillonxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Papillonxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Papaver cultivar:
1. Upright and relatively compact plant habit.
2. Moderately vigorous growth habit.
3. Flowers with light purple-colored petals.
Plants of the cultivar Papillon differ from plants of the parent selections and other Papaver cultivars known to the Inventor, such as the cultivar Patty""s Plum, not patented, in plant height as plants of the new Papaver are more compact than plants of the parent selections and other cultivars known to the Inventor.